The regions for the SkyTeam award chart are mostly what you’d expect, with interesting exceptions highlighted.

So what are the good deals on the SkyTeam award chart?

Here are some deals I particularly like:

Mainland to Hawaii: 25,000 miles roundtrip in economy, 45,000 miles roundtrip in First Class

Within USA, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and Hawaii: 25,000 miles roundtrip in economy, 45,000 miles roundtrip in First Class

North America to South America: 50,000 miles in economy

South America Hopper: 25,000 miles roundtrip in economy, 40,000 in Business

China Hopper: 20,000 miles roundtrip in economy, 25,000 in Business

Indonesia Hopper: 20,000 miles roundtrip in economy, 25,000 in Business

Middle East Hopper: 25,000 miles roundtrip in economy, 40,000 in Business

Europe Hopper: 25,000 miles roundtrip in economy

Note that I don’t include the Vietnam Hopper or Taiwan hopper because of fuel surcharges on Vietnam Airlines and China Airlines.

How to Search

SkyPass awards flying SkyTeam partners are now bookable on koreanair.com. This is great news since you don’t have to waste time calling in to book anymore. However I still think it’s a little bit easier to search delta.com for Level 1 award space and only then to search koreanair.com for that space that you already know exists. Here are some tips for performing the search on koreanair.com once you have your award space from delta.com.

Scroll down to the flight search. Select “International” and “Redeem Miles.”

Search is completely intuitive. The only problem is that if you search a date without award space, you get an error message instead of a calendar showing when there is award space.

For that reason, it may actually be a time-saver to search Delta award space on delta.com and then go to koreanair.com to search and book award space you already know exists.

Any Level 1 award space on delta.com is bookable with Korean miles. Unfortunately since Delta no longer labels its award search results Level 1-5 and deleted its charts, the only way to know whether the space is Level is to compare it to this Delta chart I’ve created.

Remember when searching on delta.com, you will not pay the prices you find there. You will book the Level 1 award space with Korean miles on koreanair.com and pay the prices on the Korean Air award chart.

The Sweetspots

Within USA, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and Hawaii: 25,000 miles roundtrip in economy, 45,000 miles roundtrip in First Class

Simple Mainland to Hawaii

Korean is the only airline I know of that puts Hawaii in the same region as the rest of North America for trips within North America. Take advantage with a roundtrip to Hawaii on Delta flights.

I’d search delta.com for award space one way at a time. Make sure your search on delta.com looks like this, including ticking the “Delta Only” circle (to avoid Alaska Airlines results, which you can book with Korean miles, but at a higher price.)

Your results need to be priced at 22,500 Delta miles one way in economy or 40,000 Delta miles one way in First/Business Class for Korean to have access to the award space. I won’t say there’s a lot, but there is some, and if you are flexible, you can get it for about half what Delta would charge for the same seats.

If you’d like, you can fly into one island and home from another. Just book an interisland flight for under $100 per person to island hop in Hawaii. You can also have a stopover in one direction in a city like Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, or Atlanta.

Other Options

Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands are all included in the region. You can fly to one, open jaw to another, and stopover in a third on your way home. This 25,000 miles award in economy is constrained only by your imagination.

There are no fuel surcharges on Delta flights within the region that Korean defines as North America.

Korean groups all of South America into one region, so this isn’t a good deal to Northern South America, which you can get to for as little as 17,500 American Airlines miles or 15,000 Alaska miles one way.

This is, however, a good deal to Southern South America, since the normal price is 60,000 miles roundtrip.

AeroMexico releases good award space in economy to many destinations in South America via Mexico City, and Delta and Aerolineas Argentinas release some award space. You can search all three airlines on delta.com.

All the Aerolineas Argentinas and AeroMexico award space there can be booked with Korean miles; only the Delta space priced at 30,000 miles one way can be booked with Korean miles. None of the award space within the Americas has fuel surcharges.

I’d look into flying to Southern South America with a stopover in Mexico City, and using an open jaw to return from a different part of South America. Look for an open jaw that you can fill with a cheap British Airways Avios award on LAN flights.

Within South America: 25,000 miles roundtrip in economy, 40,000 in Business

Your only option within South America is Aerolineas Argentinas, which has two hubs at the two Buenos Aires airports.

Here are its flights from the mainly domestic airport in the city (AEP).

Here are its flights from the mainly international airport half an hour or more outside the city (EZE).

Search for Aerolineas Argentinas award space on delta.com. There are no fuel surcharges on its flights.

China Hopper: 20,000 miles roundtrip in economy, 25,000 in Business

A footnote on the Asia 2 chart shows a fantastic discount for roundtrips within China.

With your stopover, open jaw, and destination, you can see a lot of China on China Eastern, China Southern, and Xiamen Airlines. I’d look to fill the open jaw with high speed rail.

A to B (stopover)

B to C (destination, train ride between C and D)

D to A

That’s four cities in China for 25,000 miles in Business Class plus taxes, plus the cost of a train ticket.

Search for the award space on delta.com. Within China, there are no fuel surcharges on these airlines.

Indonesia Hopper: 20,000 miles roundtrip in economy, 25,000 in Business

A footnote on the Asia 2 chart shows a fantastic discount for roundtrips within Indonesia.

Middle East Hopper: 25,000 miles roundtrip in economy, 40,000 in Business

Saudia has three hubs in Saudia Arabia and flies throughout the Middle East. Again, you can construct quite an interesting five-city itinerary for a ridiculously low price. Saudia doesn’t charge fuel surcharges on its Middle East routes.

Europe Hopper: 25,000 miles roundtrip in economy

SkyTeam has several European partners: Air France, KLM, Altialia, Air Europa, Czech, Aeroflot, and TAROM Romanian.

Unfortunately all of them charge fuel surcharges intra-Europe except TAROM. Here’s where TAROM flies. You could fly something like:

Or you could use some TAROM segments and just pay fuel surcharges on one segment on another SkyTeam airline.

Bottom Line

SkyTeam awards with Korean miles are sometimes very cheap, especially within one region. You want to look for partners that don’t charge fuel surcharges on the routes you want to fly, and you want to take advantage of your stopover and open jaw for maximum value.

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The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.

Sarah Page Maxwell became a miles nerd after moving her base to Buenos Aires and beginning a transient lifestyle that would be otherwise too expensive without miles and points. In addition to travel, her other passions include hot sauce, yoga, and her boston terrier Omar.

Do you think other airlines like asiana, or some other international carriers have some sweet spots. Emphasizing on which may be Amex membership /ultimate rewards transferable partners.
And if you would consider doing series like these in future.

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Sarah Page Maxwell is a miles aficionado and avid traveler, born in Virginia, raised in North Carolina, and currently based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has earned and redeemed millions of miles for herself and others. Traveling for free, the 29-year-old has been to 20+ countries, making sure to catch as many sunsets in each that she can.

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Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which MileValue.com receives compensation if you are approved. Compensation impacts placement of cards on the credit card page and banner placement, but does not on the articles posted on MileValue.com. This site does not include all credit card offers available in the marketplace.

Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which MileValue.com receives compensation if you are approved. Compensation impacts placement of cards on the credit card page and banner placement, but does not on the articles posted on MileValue.com. This site does not include all credit card offers available in the marketplace.